June 25, 2017 - Zacchaeus (puppet script)

    TONY & MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE

Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity 

than a rich man who is crooked in his ways. 

Proverbs 28:6

Zacchaeus Puppet Script

Teacher – And who do we have here? (Class turns around)

Zacchaeus – Hello everyone!

Teacher – And who are you?

Zacchaeus – My name is Zacchaeus. Have you ever heard of 
me?

 Class – Yes

Zacchaeus – Then you know that I was the biggest, toughest man in all of Jericho.

 Class – Noooooo

Zacchaeus – You don’t believe me? You’ve heard the song, haven’t you?

Class – Yes (Starts singing Zacchaeus song)

 Zacchaeus – NO, NO, NO, STOP!  I don’t like that song.

Teacher – Why don’t you like that song, Zacchaeus?

Zacchaeus – It calls me a wee little man.  A wee little man!  It’s enough to hurt a guy’s feelings.

Teacher – We’re sorry we hurt your feelings, Zacchaeus.

Zacchaeus – You don’t know how hard it is always being the short guy.  You get bullied, picked on, and you can never reach the stuff on the top shelf!  You also can’t do the tough jobs like most guy do so I had to take a different kind of job.

Teacher – What kind of Job do you have?

Zacchaeus – (Shamefully)  I’m a tax collector.

Teacher – What’s a tax collector?

Zacchaeus – Well, in my day, the Romans were in charge of all of Israel.  They made all the Jews in Israel pay money to Rome or Rome would get mad.  I worked for the Romans.  It was my job to go to my fellow Jews and collect all the money they owed to Rome.  The other Israelites said that since I worked for Rome, I was a traitor!  Nobody liked me. So, I figured since nobody liked me anyways, I would start to cheat the people. 

Teacher – What does it mean to cheat people?

Zacchaeus – Well, some people cheat others by using fake weights on a scale so they can charge them more.  Sometimes, I would just charge too many taxes, even if the people were poor.  Like, if Rome said they owed $5, I charged them $6 and kept the extra dollar myself.  I got very rich this way.

Teacher – Did the people know you cheated them?

Zacchaeus – Sometimes, but they couldn’t do anything about it.  If the people

refused to pay, I would send the Roman soldiers after them and make them pay.

Teacher – That’s awful!

Zacchaeus – I know but it worked really well until, one day, everything changed. I was out collecting taxes like 

       every other day, when I saw 
       a crowd start to gather in the streets.  I asked someone what was going on and he 
       said, “Jesus the Prophet is coming through Jericho today!” Now I had heard all about this Jesus fella.  Everybody had!  He went around teaching people things like to love each other, be kind to each other, and to treat everyone how you would want to be treated.  I had to admit, I wasn’t very good at any of that.

Teacher – So what happened next?

 

Zacchaeus – Well, I wanted to see this Jesus fella.  I wondered what a prophet looked like anyways.  So I tried to get through the people but no one would let me

through.  So I tried to crawl but all I could see was a bunch of ankles.  So I tried to jump but I couldn’t get high enough.  All I could see were the backs of people’s heads!  So I looked left.  Then I looked right.  And finally I saw the answer.  There was a sycamore fig tree right down the road with a branch perfect for sitting!  As you can see from the picture on the board, the trunk was low enough for a small guy like me to climb. 

(Teacher shows them the picture of the tree)

Teacher – Then what, Zacchaeus?

Zacchaeus – So I quickly ran to the tree and climbed out on

the limb and sat down.  I could see all the way down the street from there!  Soon, I saw him.  Jesus was coming down the road with his disciples.  I heard they went everywhere with him. But then I saw something that almost made me fall off my branch!  I knew one of the Disciples!  He used to be a tax collector in Jerusalem!  His name was Matthew!  What in the world was a man like Jesus doing hanging out with a tax collector?  Did Jesus even know?

Teacher – I don’t know?  What did Jesus do then?

Zacchaeus – Well, he came down the street and was about to walk right past me when he suddenly stopped.  Then, for some

reason, he looked right up into my tree.  I didn’t know what was going on.  I thought maybe he saw a bird behind me or something.  But then he spoke.  He said, “Zacchaeus, come down here right away!  I am going to stay at your house today.”  My house???  I couldn’t believe it!  Jesus was going to stay at my house!  I was so excited that I climbed out of that tree as fast as I could and bowed down in front of him.  I said, “Of course, Rabbi (that means teacher).  You are very welcome at my house.”  

Teacher – What did the others think of Jesus going to your house?

Zacchaeus – They weren’t happy at all!  As I knelt there I could hear them talk.  They couldn’t believe that Jesus was

going to the house of such a filthy, stinking sinner!  I couldn’t blame them either.  I had treated them all so bad and unfairly that I didn’t deserve to have a man like Jesus come to my house.  Also, I knew Jesus had heard what they said and I was terribly embarrassed by how I had acted.  So, I decided right then and there that things were going to be different from now on!  I stood up and said, “Jesus, watch this.  Right now I am going to give half of all my money to the poor.  And anyone I have cheated, I am going to pay them back.  In fact, I am going to give them four times what I took from them!”  Jesus looked at me

and smiled.  Then He said so everyone could hear, “Today, salvation has come to Zacchaeus’ house.  Just like all of you, he is an Israelite descended from Abraham and he needs Salvation like the rest of you.  That’s why God sent me.  I came to find the lost people and save them from their sin.”  I couldn’t believe it! Jesus had chosen to love even me; a short, filthy, stinking, cheating sinner!  I suppose if Jesus can love me for who I am, then the song about me isn’t so bad.  After all, not everyone has their own song.

                        (Everyone sings Zacchaeus is a Wee Little Man)